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Want to learn about Festival Nouveau Cinema? Well, you are at the right place…
Canada has one of the most thriving film industries in the world, often called the “Hollywood North.” In 2016, the film industry in the US and Canada generated roughly $11.4 billion, making it one of the most profitable industries in the world.
Undoubtedly, Canada has a number of film festivals recognizing and paying ode to refined art and cinema worldwide.
1. List of Canadian film festivals :
1) Canadian film fest, Toronto
2) Calgary underground film fest
3) Hot docs, Toronto
4) Fantasia Montreal
5) Toronto Film Festival
6) FIN: Atlantic International Film Festival, Halifax
7) Ottawa International Animation Festival
8) Whistler Film Festival, British Columbia
2. Festival nouveau cinéma
One of the most celebrated Canadian film festivals is the Festival du nouveau cinéma(FNC) which consists of 8 competitive sections and 3 non-competitive sections showcasing over 300 works from around the globe. The films range from short films to feature films from Canadian to international discoveries and from fictional to non-fictional films.
The festival started 50 years ago by Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipidès in 1971 as an independent film festival, and now, it is one of the Montreal Classics!
In addition to discovering, introducing and hosting events, the FNC is an excellent platform for connecting audiences and industry professionals.
Each year it exhibits more than 300 movies (brief et highlights) from the most excellent Québécois, Canadian and universal makers, as well as inventive virtual reality and immersive encounters, invigorating establishments, shocking exhibitions, ace classes with the most prominent executives, cocktails, exciting parties and culinary encounters intelligently.
For 11 days, the Festival du nouveau cinéma offers an arrangement of free or charged exercises for all tastes, all ages and all societies. The Festival du new cinéma has been promoting excellence, innovation, and audacity in the films it chooses since 1971. Its main goal is to showcase initiatives to the public that integrate storytelling, visual exploration, and technology innovation.
“Discovery is the fuel of the Festival du Nouveau Cinéma,” The festival’s main selling point is its vast and varied programming, which routinely showcases top-notch and frequently hybrid and unheard-of works chosen for their creativity and innovation.
3. LIST OF AWARDS PRESENTED
There are various awards that are present during the film festival, some of which are:
- INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION: The festival’s daring, avant-garde film programme is the centrepiece. The best feature film in the international competition was given the Louve d’Or award. Award is given to the finest international short by Loup argentéAn international competition feature film receives the Daniel Langlois Innovation Award.Award for the worldwide competition’s best interpretation in a feature film
- NATIONAL COMPETITION: emphasis on a number of recent Canadian features and shorts Grand Prize for finest Canadian features and shortsPrize for Dissemination – Canadian FilmThe audience’s favourite Canadian short film receives the People’s Choice Award.
- TEMPS Ø: the wild bunch, fearless cinematic rebels, and risk-taking movies People’s Choice Award is given to the section called Temps’ most popular feature film.
- NEW ALCHEMISTS: a study of experimental and interdisciplinary film formsBest short and feature films in the New Alchemists category receive the Experimentation Award.
- INTERNATIONAL PANORAMA: a fascinating look at contemporary international cinema. The International Panorama section’s public favourite feature film receives the Peace Award.
- RENCONTRES PANCANADIENNES DU CINÉMA ÉTUDIANT (RPCÉ): The RPCE prize is granted to the best student short film in the national competition for student short films.
- THE ESSENTIALS (LES INCONTOURNABLES): the latest feature films by the greatest names in cinema
- HISTORY OF CINEMA: retrospectives and tributes to important artistic figures
- SPECIAL PRESENTATION: special screenings, masterclasses and festive events
- Grand Prize awarded to the most innovative new media work
4. HISTORY AND EVOLUTION OF THE FESTIVAL
The Montreal International 16mm Film Festival was established in 1971. The festival’s inaugural team of organizers included Claude Chamberlan and Dimitri Eipides, who worked on it until 1994.
(still its guiding force). The first festival included categories like “European Short Films” in addition to “Political and Social Cinema” and “Visual and Structural Cinema.”
The adoption of the term “structural” (1) by American critic P. Adam Sitney and other writers indicates that the festival wanted to present cinema committed to social struggle and aesthetic investigation from the beginning. Naturally, Sitney utilized the phrase to describe the American avant-garde movies of the time, despite the festival’s focus on all independent, non-commercial films.
To “offer audiences […] a glance at the issues that fascinate today’s young filmmakers,” writes Dimitri Eipides in the foreword of the 1972 catalogue. (2) The event highlighted technological advances related to moving visuals. It was a cinéma d’auteur that defied the political, social, and artistic establishments and expressed experimental cinema’s aesthetic development and practice.
With retrospectives of films by directors like Peter Kubelka (1976) and Bruce Baillie, the festival demonstrated a strong dedication to experimental or avant-garde cinema in its first format (1979).
5. WORK CATEGORIES
New media artwork (virtual or augmented reality, installation, interactive film): no duration limitation
Short film: Films under 59 minutes
Feature film: Films of 59 minutes and over
6. PREMIERE STATUS
All selected works must be unreleased and not previously screened online, on television or in theatres:
– Canadian premiere for new media artworks and international short films
– Quebec premiere for all feature films and Canadian short films
7. Other Noteable Facts
The festival’s name was changed to the Montreal International Festival of New Cinema for its ninth edition in 1980. The festival became open to all methods devoted to developing cinematic form and language after dropping “16mm” from its moniker.
Video works were initially displayed at the festival’s 10th anniversary in 1981, underlining the expanding importance of this medium in visual arts and communications with a section featuring the work of the Coop vidéo de Montréal, Dion/Poloni, Groupe d’intervention vidéo, Vidéo-Femmes, and Vidéographe.
Other notable productions house and compition venues that one should know are;
- les films
- prix du public
- nouvelles technologies
- bold cinematic rebels
- ses oeuvres majeures
- la diversité
- compétition internationale
- événement québécois d’envergure
- du nouveau cinéma de
Since video had been a part of the art world for about 15 years, its debut provoked a debate between ardent supporters of cinema and those who supported it.
The balance between the various film-related technologies shifted throughout the fall of 1984, making it a notable period. The Montreal International Festival of New Film and Video had another name change due to this move. With a Canadian and an international segment, the video contribution acquired significance that year.
Montreal hosted another significant event, Video 84, making 1984 the city of video. That year, the event featured performers of the calibre of Joan Jonas and Bill Viola. The “film-video convergence,” which was the name of yet another event that fall targeted mainly the film and television industries, was a topic of much controversy.
The 1990s were a turbulent decade as well. Before becoming the Montreal International Event of New Cinema and New Media (FCMM) in 1997, the festival underwent two name changes: first, it became the New Montreal International Festival of Cinema, Video, and New Technologies in 1995.
These moniker changes reflected how digital picture technology is always evolving. The festival maintained true to its goal of reflecting the emergence of new cinematographic languages in all forms while appreciating such advancements’ significance. Numerous invited programmers participated throughout that time period, including Barnard Boulad, Nicole Gingras, Ségolène Roederer, and Marie-Michèle Cron.
With numerous special presentations, such as Imagina, which featured works from the Forum international des Nouvelles Images, a French event co-hosted since 1982 by the Institut national de l’audiovisuel and the Festival international de télévision de Monte-Carlo as a showcase for computer-generated images, the festival heralded the arrival of new technologies in 1995.
Also displaying its virtual theatre technology, Montreal’s Softimage filled a room inside the Monument national with projections and displays of the newest 3-D animation capabilities. Also, in 1995, the festival debuted a brand-new feature, the Media Café (later renamed the Media Lounge), where visitors could browse the Web and check out CD-ROMs, including many Voyager Press CD-ROM titles, as well as the first two issues of Artintact, a series.
After more problems with dates, locations, and finances, the festival gained new life in 1997, when Daniel Langlois became president, and his foundation became a major partner. Under the direction of new media programmer Alain Mongeau, new media gained a growing share of the spotlight after relatively modest beginnings.
The FCMM relocated to Montreal’s brand-new Ex-Centris Complex in 1999. The new media program was added to performance, digital film, interactive installations, CD-ROMs, and Web sites. From October 12 to 22, 2000, the latest festival was held in other locations throughout Montreal.
Ever since the year of 1971, this film festival has provided originality and quality and it shows well in the works it chooses.
Last Updated on by Priyanshi Sharma
